Sunday, October 01, 2006

BlogsYesterday's TBV post on a ferreted lab sheet yielded an unprecendented number of comments as folks tried to glean meaning. These have been productive: There is sentiment the detected morphine is below a WADA screening threshold, and not in need of an AAF. Multiple hands are seen on the document over multiple days, but there is nothing particularly sinister about it. One partly legible line was decoded as Triamcinolone Acetonide, a corticosteroid used for asthma or as a topical medication for dermatitis. This also appears to have been at a sub-threshold level, but without the same notation. Both of the uses suggested have their own histories. There are many TUEs for asthma, and Lance had his trickiest run in over a cream used for saddle-sore butt-rash.

Everyone seems confused by the T/E reporting. On the sample assumed to be Landis, there are two values given, 4.9 and 11.4, and we don't know where they came from. If the 4.9 was value from an earlier test, it should have been an AAF. It if was an initial reading of this sample, its replacement with an 11.4 suggests inconsistent or cherry-picking lab practice. On another sample we may be seeing a 10.0 TE, and if so, it should have been reported as an AAF. Looking closely, it is hard to conclude it's a 1.0, but that might make more sense.

TBV's reaction is no surprise: more data, please! Release the full lab pack, and the ADRB filing. This week would be nice. The ferret business only goes so far, and leaves an incomplete picture that will never be convincing.

Rant runs with it.Picked up on Japanese blog. Bring your Kanji display support.

ForumsTopix discusses the lab sheet. First reactions are that it's just a smoke screen with nothing really to do with the case. Turns into a debate about TUEs, painkillers, and steroidal anti-inflammatants, like cortisone. Argument is made that no TUE should have been granted Floyd for hip cortisone. Injured? Tough. Little illumination, comments on TBV were more productive.

At LetsRun, Old Runner guy points to TBV's ferret post, making leaps and conclusions that exceed the known facts. In particular, we don't have any idea which sample is ostensibly Peirero's; nor do we know the morphine in whichever sample was 'just' below the threshold. Since no quantification was given, it could be way under as far as we can tell.

NewsE-mailer Paula points out an article on this Dave Zabriskie appearance in Deseret to give away bikes. He's delicate talking about Landis, but willing to say doping is bad. He's in a very awkward position, and the distraction from the goal of the event speaks to the continued impact of the allegations on cycling.

Calendar2007 Tour route presentation on Thursday, 26-Oct-2006 according to this.[end]

Total Poindexter Website Prize: to the fabulous geniuses over at trustbutverify, who not only are perhaps the most impassioned defenders of Floyd Landis' virtue beyond only the boy himself, but actually seem to understand the detailed scientific arguments they put out that the rest of us (well, me) are too stupid to even coherently summarize. Floyd, you better be innocent, or you owe these folks a *major* freakin' apology! (racejunkie)

"Who does awards for blogs? I sense a nomination is in order." (Carlton Reid, of BikeBiz)

"Hands-down champion of full-and I mean full-coverage of this hearing is the blog Trust But Verify. You'll have to have excellent background knowledge of the issues, and wade through page after page of detail to get to anything interesting, but it's raw and unfiltered and all there. The guy who runs the site, a cycling fan from Northern California, began casually providing a clearinghouse for Landis case news nearly 10 months ago, and now he has the haunted look of a man whose life has been hijacked and wants it back. (Loren Mooney, co-author of Positively False, at Bicycling)

"if you want the latest news on the Floyd Landis case, Trust but Verify is the go-to site. The author is biased in favor of Floyd (so am I) but the reporting is neutral and comprehensive." (12string musings)

About Me

About Us (Admissions)

TBV is personally biased towards Floyd. I think it'll be a better world if he proves his innocence, and some inquisitors meet their own just ends. Interspersed between daily link roundups are pieces of commentary slanted towards understanding what will prove innocence in the discipline proceeding, and what will rehabilitate his reputation in the public eye. Make of them what you will. Agreement with me is not required, though I am right.